"Have you been waiting for long?" Jin spoke like a girlfriend who had arrived late to their date. Of course, Lee Shin-Woo had never had a girlfriend, so he wasn't bothered at all.

In just 13 hours, Jin returned with the leather bag Lee Shin-Woo had given him. It was completely filled.

"It's alright," Lee Shin-Woo said. “I’ve been busy reading anyway.”

"What are you reading?" Jin asked.

Lee Shin-Woo showed Jin the bundle of documents. The edges of the sheets of paper were weathering and disintegrating with every gust of wind, so Jin carefully moved his head forward to take a look. Like Lee Shin-Woo, Jin didn't know the Empire's language, but he could read the title of the documents without much difficulty.

"The Anti-Skull... Plan?"

"Do you want to read it?"

"Yeah..."

Jin was never a big fan of reading, but there must be something more to these documents than a waste of time; he couldn't joke about it, though. Lee Shin-Woo's expression was too serious.

In the end, he simply nodded, and Lee Shin-Woo picked the part that best summarized the current state of affairs and laid it on the ground to make it easier for Jin to read. He then turned back to the documents in his hand to read the last page.

"This is... There’s an organization in the Empire that knew about the impending curse and had been preparing for it?!"

"Ah, so you didn't know."

Since clearing and exiting the dungeon a few hours ago, Lee Shin-Woo had been thoroughly reading the documents he'd acquired from the hidden facilities.

Led by General Seagald, the organization Anti-Skull had been created to stop the Emperor's plan; it was also the name given to the research project looking into ways to prevent them from becoming undead.

"There are detailed records written here about their research into ways to counter the curse. In layman's terms, it involves magically creating a body that wouldn’t be affected by the curse beforehand."

"So what happened? Did they succeed?"

"No."

Jin had asked about the result with great interest, which might have something to do with him being an undead now. Lee Shin-Woo cut him off with a firm negative.

Yes, the project had made progress in multiple areas, but all of them turned out to be dead ends. There were several cases where the test subjects exploded, and it was common for them to lose their ability to manipulate mana.

By contrast, this particular experiment conducted with Acid Poison did show promise. The test subjects didn't die, and actually became stronger; even after becoming undead, they were able to retain their memories and reason.

It means that the Pauls wouldn’t become driven with hatred when they faced humans.

All undead hated humans one way or another. It seemed to have been engraved into their instincts. Because of that, humans also consider undead enemies. That wasn’t something Lee Shin-Woo was privy to, though, since he had become an undead as soon as he arrived in the Empire.

I wonder what state General Seagald is in?

Based on the reports, General Seagald had been gathering forces through various means to act against the Emperor's plan, while also actively participating in the Anti-Skull’s experiments with his subordinates.

The general had openly opposed the Emperor and gathered his own force, but his rebellion must’ve failed in the end considering how the curse had befallen the Empire despite his effort. What had happened to him as a result? Was he still alive, surviving as an undead? If that was the case, had he retained his rationality?

He would have his answer some day. Lee Shin-Woo didn't really need to follow the lead and figure it out himself; there were a lot of seniors already ahead of him in their pursuit of truth.

"Do the other heroes know about this?"

"Wouldn't they? I don’t really plan on asking, but they probably do."

Of course, he had learned of Anti-Skull in the sewer dungeon by accident, but there were various secret facilities hidden throughout the Empire. If the majority of them had become dungeons, some of his seniors should've chanced upon a couple or more already. At least, that was what Lee Shin-Woo thought.

"You’ve completed some quests as well, haven’t you?" asked Lee Shin-Woo.

"I have, and I’ve gained access to inventory and the chatroom."

Jin put the leather bag in and out of his inventory to demonstrate. Lee Shin-Woo nodded and took the bag from him.

It was filled to the brim with a variety of bones, all of which from level 2 monsters and above as per Lee Shin-Woo’s instruction. There were a few level 3 bones as well.

"How was your hunt?"

"It wasn’t that bad once I got started. I did get used to the fight in a few hours though… Yeah, laugh it up."

"Nah, that’s perfectly normal."

Lee Shin-Woo finished inspecting the bones and looked up at Jin. Jin returned the favor and met his gaze with the blue goblin fire filling his eye sockets.

"Now you're going to accept me as your companion, right?"

"Of course. However, there's something I'd like to check before that. What's the ability you got from the goddess as you were dropped into this world?"

"Mmm, that's... Well, you're also an undead, so I guess it's fine to tell you."

Jin hesitated for a moment, but after giving Lee Shin-Woo’s skeletal body a once-over, he nodded gently and opened his mouth to explain. Lee Shin-Woo had anticipated his response in some way, but at the same time, his speculation was way off.

"To tell you the truth, I have an ability that revives me even if I die. It's called Blessing of Death; the magic of the curse is absorbed, and the accumulated power is changed into a blessing. That allows me to revive after death."

"The magic of the curse? Ah."

"Yeah, that's why I'm accumulating magic even now. Not a lot, though..."

The curse's magic that had transformed people into the undead was overflowing in this world. Although Jin didn’t have the regular curse resistance, Blessing of Death got him covered in that department. It was a complete surprise to Lee Shin-Woo; he had thought Jin would be granted with Invisible Heart as well.

"The magic I've accumulated so far is only enough to revive me twice, though."

"Huh, that’s why you had been running nonstop."

"It's embarrassing, but... yeah."

That somewhat improved Lee Shin-Woo’s mental image of Jin. He had found it ludicrous that Jin had been doing nothing but running no matter how depressed he was about becoming a Skeleton Horse, but after learning about his ability, he realized that Jin had been running to accumulate the necessary energy to activate his skill.

"I've already died once, which made me afraid of dying again. I couldn't tell Jin-Jin, but that's how it is. Pathetic, right?"

"No, I understand. Truly."

The reason Lee Shin-Woo had been able to plunge head first into a fight as soon as he was dropped into the Empire was because he could revive 99 times. If he had arrived with the same skill Jin had, he would've behaved similarly.

In any case, it’s hard to say which of our abilities is better.

It might sound like there was no limit to how many times Jin could revive, but the skill would require him to gather a tremendous amount of mana to activate.

In other words, he could die worthlessly before he gathered enough mana if he was unlucky. That probably contributed to him becoming more of a coward. The goddess truly was ill-tempered.

"What about curse resistance and holy resistance?"

"I have both, and they're maxed out. To be more exact, what I have is curse absorption, which is the evolved form of curse resistance."

"As I thought."

The evolved form of curse resistance... Lee Shin-Woo nodded, storing the information in his head for now. Jin was relieved that Lee Shin-Woo seemed unperturbed even after hearing about his ability to resurrect.

"You’ve received an ability similar to mine? I had been wondering whether I was a unique case."

"Yeah, but my revival conditions are a bit different."

Lee Shin-Woo explained the effects of Invisible Heart to him. He knew Jin could have reacted badly, but he didn't want to lie to someone he sympathized with. As expected, Jin was jealous of him.

"You have 97 more lives!? I'm so jealous...!"

"There’s a limited number, though, which is annoying. For now, I’ve been trying to avoid death as much as possible. I act as though I only have one life, and that I'm not undead."

"...Yeah, I agree with you."

Lee Shin-Woo’s attitude was what Jin wanted to learn from him from the beginning. Despite their similar predicament, Lee Shin-Woo had refused to succumb to despair, but endured and persevered instead!

However, Lee Shin-Woo felt burdened by Jin's blazing gaze⁠—his eyes were literally blazing⁠—and slightly turned away.

"That's not all, right?” said Lee Shin-Woo. “Isn't there more that you got?"

"Ah, yeah... In the process of becoming a Skeleton Horse, or more precisely, a [Dark Bone Horse], I reached level 4 and acquired a skill called [Child of Light]."

"What's that? Does it let you kick at the speed of light or something?"

That was one of the many lines Lee Shin-Woo had always wanted to say. Unfortunately, Jin cold-heartedly shook his head and doused his enthusiasm.

"By receiving the Blessing of Light, my agility growth rate triples."

"...Growth rate is kind of vague. What does it mean exactly?"

He should be called the Child of Char[1] instead of the Child of Light, Lee Shin-Woo thought as he asked for more details. Without reservation, Jin elaborated. He hadn’t realized how amazing his own ability was.

"Whenever and for whatever reason I gain agility, I’ll get three stat points when others get 1. That's my karma, or whatever it’s called."

"For whatever reason...!?"

That's bullshit! Three times the agility no matter what? Jin would gain three times the agility points others gain from either karma, skills, or potions sold at the Goddess’s Secret Shop. It was a cheat skill he had gained only after becoming a Skeleton Horse, but still.

"It must be good if it surprises even you. Well, my agility did shoot up as I continually ran, when my skills leveled up, and when I received karma for running really fast. I think my agility was around 500 at the beginning, but right now it's close to 800."

"800!?"

His agility alone was higher than all of Lee Shin-Woo’s stats combined! That put Jin’s fearsome growth rate in perspective. Disregarding his other stats, Jin already had the agility to rival a level 6 hero!

Wait a sec.

An idea struck Lee Shin-Woo suddenly. Did that mean the skill would apply when he reinforced Jin’s bones, too...?

If that was the case, the synergy between their skills would result in an absurd growth beyond his imagination. Jin would grow explosively, and Lee Shin-Woo would benefit as well by fighting on his back...!

Did the goddess expect this?

The combination of karma between two unusual individuals led to a ridiculous synergy. As the goddess of the world, it was possible she had predicted this.

If the goddess did foresee them working together at some point... She might have been guiding them so that they would cross paths with each other. That meant she might not have turned them into undead simply because of a mean streak. Perhaps she wanted them to accomplish what 'couldn't be done by normal humans'.

...It could still be a whim, though.

"Do you also have a different ability?" Jin asked.

"Yeah."

Preoccupied, Lee Shin-Woo had forgotten about Jin somewhat. Realizing that Jin had been waiting for an explanation, he took a level 2 bone from the leather bag and held it up. With an approximation of a mischievous smile, he replied, "Yeah, I do have one. Whatever I’m capable of is all because of this skill."

"What kind of ability could it be...?"

"I'll show you using your own body."

"Huh?!"

"It might hurt a little at first. Consider yourself warned."

Jin staggered back in shock for some reason. Unconcerned, Lee Shin-Woo shouted out the name of his skill.

"Bone Reinforcement!"

1. T/N: Char is a character from Mobile Suit Gundam. I don't really understand the reference here, but it's probably a meme of some sort.